Personal Injury Law

Evidentiary Issues to Consider under Missouri Law for a Slip and Fall Personal Injury Trial

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

Successful Missouri slip and fall claims require that the Plaintiff prove a dangerous condition on the property, that the property owner had a duty to protect against that danger and that the owner knew or should have known about the dangerous condition that caused the fall. These elements of Missouri premise liability cases have been discussed on this blog. Additionally I have discussed the elements of a slip and fall case in context of a Missouri slip and fall injury at gas station.

One issue that often comes up under Missouri law for premise liability cases is prior accidents or injuries and subsequent remedial measures - are they admissible at trial? The short answer, is yes, as long as they are introduced into the trial for the right reasons.

Prior accidents can be introduced to show notice if the defendant claims they were not aware of the condition or to rebut the defendant's claim that the condition was not dangerous. See Bynote v. National Super Mkts, 891 SW2d 117 (Mo banc 1995).

Subsequent remedial measures, meaning repairs or corrections, generally are not admissible as Missouri public policy is to encourage the repair of defective conditions. However, if introduced at trial for the right reasons these subsequent remedial measures can get into evidence to show control of the area or if the Defendant argues that nothing was wrong; obviously repairs disprove that assertion. Gomez v Construction Design 126 SW3d 366 (Mo Banc 2004).

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on February 22, 2011 (boomark / email).